Giffords to speak at Senate gun violence hearing

FILE - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, wave at the start of a memorial vigil remembering the victims and survivors one year after the Arizona congresswoman was wounded in a shooting that killed six others, in this Jan. 8, 2012 file photo taken in Tucson, Ariz. Among those testifying Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013 at the year's first Senate hearing on what lawmakers should do to curb gun violence, will be Mark Kelly, husband of Giffords and a retired astronaut. Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, received a severe head wound in a 2011 shooting as she met with constituents outside a Tucson supermarket. Six people were killed and 12 others wounded. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
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FILE - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, wave at the start of a memorial vigil remembering the victims and survivors one year after the Arizona congresswoman was wounded in a shooting that killed six others, in this Jan. 8, 2012 file photo taken in Tucson, Ariz. Among those testifying Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013 at the year's first Senate hearing on what lawmakers should do to curb gun violence, will be Mark Kelly, husband of Giffords and a retired astronaut. Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, received a severe head wound in a 2011 shooting as she met with constituents outside a Tucson supermarket. Six people were killed and 12 others wounded. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
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Before the hearing began, more than 100 people waited in line hoping to get in. First were Neeta Datt and Christa Burton, who arrived just before 7 a.m. EST. They work for the Maryland branch of Organizing for Action, the Obama campaign organization that is now pushing his legislative agenda.

"There should be more gun control. There's enough violence taking place," said Datt, who lives in Burtonsville, Md..

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama proposed a package that includes banning assault weapons, requiring background checks on all firearms purchases and limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.

Giffords underwent a lengthy rehabilitation process and has regained some ability to speak, but has retired from Congress. A gun owner, she and her husband Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut, have formed a political action committee called Americans for Responsible Solutions to back lawmakers who support tighter gun restrictions.

In testimony prepared for the hearing but released Tuesday, Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, said such steps had failed in the past. He instead voiced support for better enforcement of existing laws, beefing up school security and strengthening the government's ability to keep guns from mentally unstable people.

The massacre in Newtown has also set off a national discussion about mental health care, with everyone from law enforcement leaders to the gun industry urging policymakers to focus on the issue as a way to help prevent similar mass shootings. The issue of mental health has arisen in four recent mass shootings, including Sandy Hook, the Tucson shooting, the incident in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater last year and Virginia Tech in 2007.

"Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals," LaPierre said in his statement. "Nor do we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families."

While not yielding on specifics, much of LaPierre's statement had a milder tone than other remarks the NRA has made since Newtown.

That includes an NRA television ad calling Obama an "elitist hypocrite" for voicing doubts about having armed school guards while his own children are protected that way at their school. While Obama's children have Secret Service protection, officials at their school have said its own guards don't carry guns.

Feinstein said Tuesday that she will hold her own hearing on gun control because she was unhappy that three of the five witnesses testifying Wednesday are "skewed against us."